Sex offences trial hears spilt mayonnaise denial

An Army Cadets instructor accused of sex offences could not have spilt mayonnaise on a man's trousers and offered to lick it off because he was "a chilli sauce guy", he told his trial.

Rylan Ray, 26, of Westgate, Peterborough, denies several sexual offences, many involving children he met through the Cambridgeshire Army Cadet Force.

Ipswich Crown Court has heard he was in a kebab shop during a night out with a man, who had allegedly been one of his child victims, and had spilt sauce on him.

The man, who alleges Ray asked him for indecent photographs when he was a minor, told police the defendant had said: "I can lick it off because they're mine, can't I?"

Asked by his defence barrister Rhodri James whether he recalled spilling mayonnaise, he responded: "No, I'm a chilli sauce guy, so I don't know when that could've been."

Ray, a former Peterborough city councillor, denies 25 offences, including one of rape.

His barrister also questioned him about a Snapchat account purporting to belong to a young woman called "Chelsie" – which Ray is alleged to have used to exchange sexual images with boys.

He said he had found the account on a cadet's mobile phone at an event and sent images to his own phone so he could confront the young person.

Ray told the court he would not reveal Chelsie's true identity because "they were a kid that made a mistake".

"They messed up and I confronted them about it," he said.

He said he looked at the phone in question at another event a month or two later and discovered the individual was still exchanging indecent images with other young people.

It was at that point he forwarded a folder of pictures and videos to his own device because he "wanted to prove to them that I knew what they were doing", he told the court.

"I didn't look through them all. It was quite clear from the start they were sexual things," he said.

He said after he confronted the person he believed was Chelsie, he deleted the images from his camera roll.

The court previously heard how police later found the images stored in the cache of three mobile phones – in temporary storage areas designed to help data previously accessed, such as images, load faster.

Ray said he did not raise his concerns with his superiors or the parents of "Chelsie" because he felt he could deal with it himself.

The charges against Ray include one count of rape and three of sexual assault, which he denies.

All the charges relate to a six-year period and 11 male complainants.

The trial continues.

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